Cora Sue Griffith Byrd

(June 17, 1943 – December 18, 2022)

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Collins for Cora Sue Griffith Byrd, 79, of Seminary, who passed away on Sunday, December 18, 2022, at the Bedford Care Center Monroe Hall in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Bro. Joe Lott will officiate at the services with interment to follow in the Bullock Cemetery in Seminary. Special music will be provided by Samuel David Lee. Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Collins will be in charge of the arrangements.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at Billy M. King-Colonial Chapel Funeral Home, 3302 Hwy 49, Collins, Mississippi.

Pallbearers will be Coty Burrell, Kaleb Byrd, Cha Brown, Lee Shoemake, Tyler Dossett, and Jace Byrd. Talon Shoemake will be an honorary pallbearer.

Mrs. Sue was reared in Prentiss, Mississippi, where she enjoyed playing basketball as a young woman. She married Jessie Allen Byrd in Alabama in 1963. Together they have three children, Jessie Allen Byrd, Jr., Lesia Ann Byrd Taormina, and Stacey Aaron Byrd. Mrs. Sue, affectionately known as "Nana", was a loving wife, mother, and homemaker. She was a member of Sanford Missionary Baptist Church, and she will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jessie Allen Byrd, Sr.; father, Clarence Thomas Griffith; mother, Jesse Celeste Crosby; and siblings, John Leslie Bridges, Linda Cascio, J.T. "Teddy" Griffith, Oscar Griffith, Don Griffith, and Nell Griffith.

Survivors include her children, Jessie Allen Byrd, Jr. (Rosa) of Hattiesburg, Lesia Taormina (Brian) of Sanford, and Stacey Aaron Byrd (Stephanie) of Seminary; grandchildren, Lauren Burrell (Coty), Kaleb Byrd (Laken), Bethany Brown (Cha), Tayler Shoemake (Lee), Katherine Davis, Savannah Thompson, Erin Sanford (Mitch), Emily Byrd, and Eden Byrd; great-grandchildren, Jace Byrd, Meredith Burrell, Lincoln Burrell, Luke Burrell, Elizabeth Brown, McAleigh Brown, Annalee Cate Brown, Charles Harper Brown, Talon Shoemake, Janie Shoemake, Luke Shoemake, Cayman Lyles, Aaron Sanford, Freya Sanford, and Kacey Sanford; brother, Gerald Griffith; and many other nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

Family and friends may sign an online guestbook at www.billymkingcolonialchapel.com.